Governance and structural hierarchy of NACTA:

NACTA is basically governed by the combined operations of four different wings namely:

1. Counter terrorism wing

2. Counter extremism wing
3. Research and policy wing
4. Operations wing

We will discuss each of them individually starting with the first one

Counter terrorism wing:

Counter Terrorism Wing of NACTA is working as the core wing of the Authority. CT wing deals
with the subjects of Counter Terrorism (CT) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT). It is
headed by a Director General, supported by two Directors each dealing with CT & CFT
respectively. The Directors are further assisted by Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors.
Mandate of CT wing is as under:-

 Developing and regularly updating CT & CFT National Policies.

 Incorporating feedback from provincial and federal LEAs into the CT & CFT Policies.
 Keeping liaison and coordination with LEAs and Joint Intelligence Directorate (JID) on CT
& CFT issues.
 Collecting and updating information on CT & CFT from LEAs and other National Agencies
and disseminating to all concerned for necessary action.
 Maintaining databases of proscribed organizations/persons.
 Monitoring action against proscribed organizations/persons
 Raising and strengthening of CTDs/CFT Units in provinces.
 Matters relating to CT & CFT cooperation with other countries and International
Organizations /Forums.
 Rehabilitation Programs for Young Victims of Terrorism
 Monitoring and evaluating progress of Counter Terrorism Departments and Agencies in
the provinces.
 Devising National Explosive Regulatory Policy for identification & Tracking / Tracing of
explosives.

Counter extremism wing:

NACTA has fully functional Counter Extremism Wing primarily mandated to propose Counter
Extremism strategies and comprehensive National Counter Extremism Policy (NCEP). It is
headed by a Director General, who assists National Coordinator in discharging functions of the
Authority in reference to CVE specifically. Director General is supported by two Directors who
deal with counter extremism policy development and counter extremism information,
respectively. The directors are assisted by Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors.

The mandate of the wing is as under:

 Design and manage CVE programs.

 Collaborate with existing international partners to identify opportunities to collaborate
on CVE-related research and development
 Identifying populations targeted by violent extremist propaganda, messaging or
recruitment
 Identifying risk factors that contribute to violent extremism in communities in Pakistan
and potential remedies for public private institutions
 Collaborate with provincial and Federal departments responsible for efforts relating to
countering violent extremism.
 Managing the outreach engagement efforts directed towards communities and areas at
risk for radicalization and recruitment for violent extremist activities.
 Establish a CVE Executive Steering Committee to oversee policy, strategy, and
operational issues concerning CVE programs and initiatives

Research and policy wing:

Research and Analysis Wing of NACTA is responsible for carrying out research on counter-
violent extremism and counter-terrorism issues. The wing is headed by a Director General
supported by two Directors who deal with Research Management & Policy and Data Analysis,
respectively. The directors are assisted by Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors.

NACTA Act No. XIX of 2013, Section 4 (d) specifically mandates the authority to “carry out
research on topics relevant to terrorism and extremism and to prepare and circulate
documents”.

The main functions of Research & Analysis Wing are:

 To provide evidence based guidance through research activities

 To identify research areas
 To evaluate technical and financial aspects of research proposals
 To monitor and evaluate research projects
 To prepare ToRs/contract agreements with qualified researchers/research firms
 To develop liaison with national and international research organizations and with think
tanks in order to develop realistic and viable policy options for combating extremism
and terrorism at all levels.
Operations wing:

Operations Wing of NACTA is a very important organ of the Authority. It operates vide
section 4 (a) of NACTA Act, 2013, which states, “to receive and collate data or information
or intelligence, and disseminate and coordinate between all relevant stakeholders”. To carry
out the purpose of this wing, a control room is also established, which is active and
operational 24/7.

The Wing is headed by a Director General supported by one Director and other supporting
staff.

The job description/mandate of the wing is as under:

 Operation of Control Room 24/7

 Receiving of security intelligence from Intelligence agencies
 Dissemination of preemptive Threat Alerts to LEAs
 Issuance of Information Reports
 Operation of National CT Help Line – 1717
 Maintenance of Media Desk
 Collation of Data on Terrorism
 Preparation and dissemination of DSRs

NACTA was created, in 2009, as an Administrative Wing within the Ministry of Interior,
under a National Coordinator, controlled administratively by the Secretary Interior Division,
Ministry of Interior. All the postings/ transfers within NACTA were made by the Interior
Division. However, in 2013, the Authority was granted administrative and financial
autonomy and was created legally as a body corporate, answerable to a Board of
Governors (BOG) headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the National Coordinator
(NACTA) as Secretary to the BOG. The BOG was to provide strategic vision and policy
oversight to NACTA. The Members of the NACTA’s BOG, under NACTA Act 2013, are as
under:-

 Minister for Interior

 Chief Ministers of Provinces
 Chief Ministers of Gilgit Baltistan (GB)
 Minister for Law & Justice
 Minister for Finance
 Minister for Defence
 Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK)
 One Senator (recommended by Chairman Senate)
 One MNA (recommended by Speaker National Assembly)
 Secretary Ministry of Interior
 Director General ISI
 Director General IB
 Director General MI
 Director General FIA
 Chief Secretaries of Provinces, GB & AJK
 Inspector General of Provinces, GB & AJK
Under the Act, Minister for Interior was envisaged as Head of the Executive Committee, to
assist the BOG

Projects of NACTA:

According to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) Pakistan's Action to Counter
Terrorism (PACT) with a special reference to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been developed jointly
by the Government of Pakistan and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with an
aim to strengthening the processes related to pre-investigations, investigations, prosecutions
and adjudication of terrorism related cases. The objectives of the project encompass enhancing
the skills and knowledge of law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges while improving
coordination between provincial and federal authorities including between the National
Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Police and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police. The main coordinating
authority of PACT is NACTA.

National Counter Terrorism Database:

A National Database of Terrorists (under-trial prisoners, convicts, killed, fugitives/ wanted and
proscribed persons) along with a database of terrorist incidents, terror-
alerts, Madaris & Masajid is being developed by NACTA. It shall be called the National Counter
Terrorism Database (NCTD). It will be continuously updated by Police Departments and Law
Enforcement Agencies and will be ultimately linked to NADRA’s VERISYS and FIA’s
IBMS Systems.

Latest terrorist data including updated position on RED BOOKS (Most Wanted Terrorists) have
been obtained from all provinces, AJ&K, GB, FIA’s CT Wing and the security agencies. NACTA in
coordination with NADRA is processing to finalize standardized information sheet which will be
shared with all Provinces to have a unified format. Database will be established at NACTA with
access to all Provinces and other relevant agencies. Real time national database would be
ultimately available to all law enforcement agencies. NACTA has established Virtual Private
Network (VPN) /Intranet between NACTA and NADRA and has initiated uploading data/entries
of the terrorists.

Formulation of a dynamic terrorist profile data-bank containing detailed profiles of individuals

accused and convicted of acts of terrorism and extremism will enable NACTA to assess the
economic, social, environmental, psychological, ideological, revenge based reasons behind acts
of terrorism. It will be an authentic profiling with an aim to make incisive and evidence-based
interventions in relation to the National Counter Extremism Policy formulated by NACTA.
Tat’heer Drive:

Tat’heer is a multi-pronged Cyber Counter-terrorism drive which includes mapping of radical

content available on internet/social media will help in strategizing evidence based Cyber
Counter-terrorism Measures. NACTA, in pursuance of its mandate vide section 4, NACTA Act
2013, has undertaken this drive (Tat’heer, literal meaning: “to sanitize”) to counter radical and
extremism ideology in the realm of cyber-sphere. Given that penetration of internet and social
media stands at more than 35 Million users in Pakistan, with a growth of more than 20% per
annum in recent years, the need for such a drive cannot be over-emphasized. The Tat’heer
drive intends to achieve its goal by setting up a specialized National Cyber Counter-terrorism
Unit (NCCU) with the following capacities:

 Technological Cyber-security Analysis by employing Software Engineer(s) and

developing state of the art software (like web spiders/crawlers, natural language
processors and classifiers etc). That can sniff radical or extremist content on
internet and social media,
 Internet Patrol Capacity which can glean through potentially extremist content
and report it for blocking (through PTA) and/ or penal action under Pakistan
Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (FIA, NR3C, Cyber Crime Wing).
 Develop and Disseminate Counter-narrative and project moderate values
through academia, intelligentsia, cyber-activists, consultants and NACTA’s
Committee on Counter-narrative thereby reclaiming space in cyber-space vis-a-
vis radical and extremist propaganda.

NACTA and HEC MOU:

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by National Coordinator, NACTA and Lt. General
(Rtd.) Mr. Muhammad Asghar, Executive Director of Higher Education Commission. The
purpose and scope of the MOU was to foster partnership between NACTA and HEC to establish
a sustained and effective collaboration and partnership between the two in combating
extremism and terrorism in the country through joint research and collaboration as well as
consolidating existing research work in the areas of counter extremism and counter terrorism.
This was thought to help in promoting research culture in public sector as well as improving
policy making process. Another main objective of the MOU was to enhance awareness /
prevention against extremist ideologies and mindset and to provide education on the topics of
counter extremism and counter terrorism through participatory approach of the HEC and to
increase awareness programs through the support of HEC.